German Monastery of St. Ivan Rilski

Overview

The German monastery "St. Ivan Rilski ”is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery located in Lozen Mountain, 5 km southeast of the village of German, 15 kilometers from Sofia. 

The construction of the monastery began in 1818, when the locals managed to build a small church. It was dug into the ground so that it could not be seen, as the Ottoman invaders did not allow Christian churches to be built. Only after the Liberation, in 1885, a new church was built on the site of the dug, modest one. At the end of the 19th century, the monastery was visited by Tzar Ferdinand and Princess Maria Louise, who planted two redwoods, still rising majestically to the north gate.